By Ollie Irish
Is it possible to have a comfortable yet nervewracking win? Judging by event at Anfield on Thursday evening, yes. Liverpool’s failure to score in the first leg meant that just one Lille goal at Anfield would force the hosts to score at least three times. So even when the Reds were cruising at 2-0 up, there was a palpable tension on the Kop.
In hindsight, Liverpool won easily, but the away goal rule kept them honest. Two goals by Fernando Torres after a penalty by Steven Gerrard did the damage. Liverpool played some really good football in patches, pinging the ball around with the sort of authority they have struggled to find in the Premier League, but with Eden Hazard looking very sharp up front for the visitors (cue lots of terrible ‘Hazard warning’ puns), an away goal was a very real fear. But it didn’t come and Liverpool (who play Benfica) join Fulham (Wolfsburg) in the last eight.
The best pics from Anfield:
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